Run beautiful run, p.35
Run Beautiful Run, page 35
‘Stop being such a selfish sociopath.’ For the first time in her life, Maddison got between Nancy and her addictions. She pinched Nancy’s cigarette, butting it out, to then force the disgusting remnants through the hole in the vent.
‘Hey—’
‘Give me the rest of them.’ Maddison held out her hand, sparking up the lighter. The people in the back hissing at her to be quiet. She was doing this for them. Or didn’t they understand English? ‘Nancy, I love you, but it’s a disgusting habit you should have kicked a long time ago.’
‘No.’ Nancy hugged her cigarettes like a child.
‘You will. Or I’ll tip out all the scotch.’
The dancing flame of the lighter highlighted Nancy’s fear.
‘Please?’
‘Fine. There goes our chances of sending SOS smoke signals…’ Nancy dumped her cigarette packets into Maddison’s hand.
‘I’ll give them back to you when we’re in an open area.’ Maddison hid the contraband in her pocket, then her godmother passed her a bottle of scotch.
Their situation was hopeless. She may as well drown her sorrows and die of alcohol poisoning to avoid what was ahead of her.
‘What the hell is going on, Maddison? Why are those people cowering in here like spoiled caviar in a can?”
‘Keep your voice down, I don’t want to scare the children.’ Maddison swallowed a mouthful of scotch, settling her back against the metal door.
‘You’d better tell me what’s going on, young lady, because I’m in this with you all the bloody way. They won’t let me walk away free.’ Nancy flung off the lid from her scotch bottle and let it roll off into the darkness. ‘I want the truth and the whole truth, young lady. Not just snippets of a story either.’ She took a mouthful of scotch. ‘I’m waiting. Hmm?’
‘Okay, okay …’ Her godmother was in this situation because of Maddison and deserved the truth and so she told her godmother everything …
Nancy sipped on her scotch. ‘So, darling, these people believe that they are being smuggled into this country as illegal immigrants, but instead they’re being trafficked as slaves?’
‘Yes.’
‘Don’t they realise this?’
Maddison shrugged.
‘Where do they come from?’
‘Most of them are refugees fleeing from war or persecution to seek asylum. They’ve come through South East Asia, into Indonesia, then into Australia by boat. The rich refugees, they catch a plane. These people are the poor ones desperate to flee from their homelands with hope for a better future.’ Her research never prepared her for this, coming face to face with people she’d read about on a page, trapped in a sea-bound bunker.
‘My great-grandmother fled Poland during the Holocaust.’ Nancy frowned, then sighed. ‘I’d forgotten what it was like to be broke and desperate.’
‘I remember as a kid we were short of money and lived in the office at the magazine. And I sure as hell know what it’s like to be desperate, running scared for my life.’ Maddison swigged on her scotch to dull her senses, to try and forget they were trapped inside a slow rocking tomb.
‘Oh, my darling, Sweet Cheeks.’ Nancy put her arm around Maddison and gave her a squeeze. ‘You know, darling, it’s been a long time since I sat on the ground drinking straight out of a bottle. The last time was with your mother. We’d barely scrounged enough from our coins to buy this cheap bottle of plonk.’
‘I’m surprised you and my mother didn’t invest in a winery.’
‘We’d thought about it.’ Nancy squeezed her hand. ‘We just never got around to it. What with your mother busy with the magazine, and me with my many merry men.’ Nancy took another sip. ‘Talking about men, darling, what’s happening with you and Joe?’
‘Really? Do you have to ask that here? Now?’ Maddison shook her head, raising the bottle to her lips.
‘My darling Sweet Cheeks, the man is unreservedly, completely and totally in love with you. Even Leon picked it.’
‘Let’s talk about the whole photo set-up between you and Leon.’
‘Oh, save the lecture, Sweet Cheeks.’ Nancy waved her jewelled hand dismissively. ‘I did that to ensure you weren’t being toyed with.’
‘I told Joe about the trust earlier.’ Maddison confessed with a sigh. She missed him.
‘And?’
‘Joe looked at me like I was some freak. Rang his family, and that was the last time we spoke.’ Except for shouting out her sorrys from the lift. A heavy wave of sadness enveloped her with its bony fingers squeezing her ribs. Would she ever see Joe again?
‘That poor, darling man. You never told Joe anything about yourself, did you?’
Maddison shrugged.
‘Darling, don’t you think you can trust Joe?’
She gazed at their metal vault. ‘Unusual circumstances threw us together. It’s been pretty intense.’
‘But he’s still here. Give the man some credit. After all you’ve been through, being chased by goons with guns, Joe has stuck by you. He’s left his family and his home to help bring you here to Sydney. He’s got amazing courage to shout down Regus while defending you. And no one, darling, I mean no one has the guts to do that except me. Oh, and you, that time before you ran away.’ Nancy nudged Maddison. ‘Why don’t you want to open up to this guy? Is it because of the money?’
Maddison shrugged, picking at the edge of the bottle’s label. ‘Maybe because men usually became more interested in being part of the magazine.’
‘Or they were gold diggers, as I’d warned you over the last couple of men you dated.’
‘I give up. My mother never needed a man in her life, so why should I?’ Did her mother ever feel the sting of heart ache the way Maddison felt for Joe?
‘Do you want my opinion?’
‘Oh please, you have the floor.’ Maddison gave a drunk giggle at her clever wordplay.
‘Darling, I honestly don’t believe Joe is a money-sucking parasite like half of my toy boys. I tested him.’
Maddison sat up frowning. ‘You didn’t. How? When?’
Nancy lifted her chin, wearing a smug smile. ‘Darling, you were there. Remember, photo shoot.’
‘Don’t remind me.’ She crossed her arms in a huff, leaning back against the cold metal door.
‘Darling, Joe’s the first man I’ve ever had to convince to take a cheque. And he asked for it to be written out to his family’s station.’
‘Joe told us to make it out to the station before Leon took the first shot.’
‘Sweet Cheeks, over the many years I have offered a cheque to people, they always thought of themselves. But Joe put his family first, which is a rare and admirable trait in our world, darling.’
‘They’re a tight family.’ Maddison hugged her bent legs to rest her chin on her knees. She missed Glenda, with her baking sessions and her warm smile in the mornings. Greg’s playful banter with her over his clothes, Earl with his dry quick quip of the day as part of his daily wisdoms. And Joe … She missed everything about Joe.
‘Hey, Nancy?’
‘Hmm.’
‘How come my mother never dated anyone?’
‘Oh, your mother had men on the side.’ Nancy grinned wryly.
‘How? My mother was always working on the magazine.’
‘In the beginning, Janice indulged. I guess the more popular the magazine got, the more it …’
‘Consumed her.’ It became her mother’s most important possession. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t see it. You were there.’ Maddison took an angry swig of scotch, relishing the heat of the burn in her chest.
‘I tried to drag her out of that office, but Janice wouldn’t leave.’
‘Why did she end up like that?’
Nancy said nothing. Tight-lipped, as always.
‘Come on, Nancy, look at where we are. No more secrets.’ She frowned at herself. Is this what Joe felt like, always being kept in the dark? She covered her mouth as the burden of guilt made her stomach twist into knots. Poor Joe.
‘You deserve to know,’ said Nancy, scratching around for another cigarette. ‘I’ll tell you everything for a smoke.’
‘Not until we get to open space.’
‘But this is a conversation that demands I smoke—’
‘It’ll distract you. How come my mother never remarried or dated other men? She was a beautiful woman. Don’t tell me work got in the way.’
‘Oh, Janice and Regus shared that same trait. But back when I met your mother, we were both boy crazy.’
‘What happened?’
‘At university, Janice became ashamed of who she was and where she’d come from. I blame your father for that.’
‘You knew my father?’
Nancy nodded. ‘Tim was studying to become an aeronautical engineer when he was dating your mother.’
‘It wasn’t a one-night stand?’
‘Darling, they loved each other.’
‘Did he dump her when he found out she was pregnant with me?’
‘No. Not at all. Tim’s family had discovered Janice was on a hardship scholarship. He’s from old-family money and they convinced Tim to call it off, shipped him interstate, and broke your mother’s heart.’ Nancy sighed heavily. ‘After that, your mother wouldn’t let another man touch her, only to discover she was pregnant.’
‘At eighteen. I know the story.’
‘But you never knew that Janice was originally going to give you up for adoption.’
‘Really?’
‘But I saw Janice’s expression change when she took one look at you. She made me snatch you back from the nurse before they took you away and she held you in her arms. You looked so innocent.’ Nancy tenderly stroked the tip of Maddison’s nose. ‘From that moment on, Janice was going places. You could see it, and I was always going to tag along for the ride. Didn’t she take us on some extraordinary adventures, from a life of squalor to the best that money could buy?’ She held her bottle in the air in a salute.
‘Did my father ever learn about me?’
Nancy looked at her coat, picking at some unseen lint. ‘Oh, my darling Sweet Cheeks, I—’
Maddison putting her hand over her godmother’s. ‘Don’t sweet talk your way out of this. What did my mother have to hide?’
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
‘Out with it.’
‘Tim dropped out of university and disgraced his family by becoming a heroin addict. I liked to think it was because he was miserable without your mother. Sadly, he’d overdosed before your mother found him.’
‘How come she never told me?’
‘Janice never got over your father. It disappointed her that Tim never had the guts to stand up and fight for what he wanted. And that’s why your mother worked so hard. She reinvented herself to bury her past so deep that no one would ever know where she’d come from or use it to hurt her again. Instead of addressing her past, Janice used that pain to drive herself forwards. Remember your trip to visit your grandmother?’
‘Pft. The woman who refused to acknowledge my existence.’ The trip to Adelaide seeing the house her mother had grown up, choked with weeds, and walls full of graffiti. ‘It’d been an eye opener, visiting my mother’s past. We got close then … until we came back to the office.’ Maddison took an angry swig of her scotch.
‘After that trip, darling, your mother returned with a plan. She renegotiated her terms with Regus and was planning to slow down once she’d achieved controlling shares of the magazine, so you two would run it together.’ Nancy patted Maddison’s knee. ‘That’s why Janice had you so involved from the beginning.’
‘And we both know how that ended, with my mother being too busy with the magazine for anyone.’ A magazine Maddison resented.
‘That’s why you weren’t allowed to work for the magazine and got sent to work the crappy summer internships.’
‘Pardon me?’
‘When Janice discovered she was sick, your mother and Regus didn’t want you to end up like them. All Janice wanted was to see you happy.’ Nancy tapped on Maddison’s heart.
A heart she let no one in for fear of getting hurt. Did it matter now?
‘Janice honestly thought she’d be there with you, to retire at fifty and live to a hundred. But at least she was there to help you blow out the candles of your sweet sixteenth.’ Nancy looked at her fingers covered in rings, stroking the fur of her coat, wriggling her designer label shoes.
Across from them, people sat in rags.
‘It’s amazing don’t you think, darling, that when you’re staring death in the face you realise all those materialistic possessions mean squat. It’s the memories you make living a life that is truly too short to waste.’
Seventy-two
NEW SOUTH WALES—VICTORIA BORDER
Joe’s hands tightly gripped the BMW’s steering wheel, as he chased the white line down the night-time freeway. A ring blasted through the speakers as the mobile phone, resting in the console, lit up like an in-house flare.
It was the mobile phone Kelly had given him.
‘Hello,’ Joe spoke to the hands-free microphone, bracing himself. He’d taken a car that didn’t belong to him.
‘Where the hell are you two?’ Regus’s voice bellowed through the car’s speakers, with other people talking in the background. ‘You were meant to be tucked up in the safe house hours ago—’
‘Stop, Regus!’ And he gave it to the man hard, fast, and straight to the point just the way Regus liked it. ‘They’ve kidnapped Nancy. Maddison went to save her. But now both women are being held hostage on a ship heading for Melbourne.’
‘How did Nancy get kidnapped? In this building? While we’ve had the feds here all bloody day!’ The boardroom’s background noise was silenced.
‘No idea. Maddison said they may have had her phones tapped and who knows how big their network is? I know they had that Melbourne detective call Nancy looking for Maddison. They could’ve been watching Nancy this entire time, and with us showing up this morning in the limo—’
‘You would’ve stood out like a side of barbecued ribs at a vegan sit-down.’
‘It doesn’t matter how, all that matters is that they’ve now got Nancy and Maddison.’
‘Right, I’ve got you on speaker with Woodcock beside me. Fill us in on everything.’
‘All I know is this …’ Joe explained the events calmly, but inside his heart was heavy with his guts knotted with worry.
‘Joe, Woodcock here. Regus’s security guy is patching us through to the building’s surveillance cameras. Can you tell us where Maddison was while you were in her office talking to your folks?’
‘Maddison went to see Nancy, who was supposed to be waiting to take us out for dinner.’ Joe wished he’d never let Maddison out of his sight.
‘What the—’ Regus voice dropped a notch. ‘The security tapes show you speeding through my basement.’
‘I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. I’m trying to help Maddison.’ Joe was meant to be keeping Maddison safe but was failing miserably. ‘I found Nancy’s white car parked at the docks,’ Joe said over the microphone, as he steered down the freeway. ‘It was the wharfies who told me that Maddison was the last person seen getting onto the cargo ship. Check the security footage they have down at the docks to confirm it, because I never saw her get on. But those men told me Maddison was running full pelt to not miss that boat.’
‘What is the vessel called?’ Woodcock asked.
‘Where the hell is it headed?’ Regus demanded.
‘It’s called the Zinko and its heading for Melbourne with a deck full of sea containers,’ said Joe.
It was as if everyone in the boardroom murmured their surprise in the background.
The first to react was Regus. ‘Right, what did Maddison take with her? And someone find me that list of ships.’
‘Maddison took her bag with her notes and the memory stick from the laptop that has copies of this whole thing.’
In the background, paper shuffled as Regus barked out orders, snapping his fingers. ‘Right, we have a list of Cottillard’s boats and their shipping itinerary.’
‘Is the Zinko on that list?’
‘Yep. Booked to dock in Melbourne tomorrow. I bet my next lot of dividends that ship has got illegal immigrants onboard and they’re taking Maddison to see this Cottillard.’
‘Yeah.’ Joe had already guessed that. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, worried about what that animal would do to Maddison.
‘Where are you now, Joe?’
‘I’m halfway to Melbourne. I’ll pay you back in fuel and costs.’
‘If I told you to come back, would you?’
‘No. I’m not stopping. Don’t ask me to turn around, Regus, because I won’t!’
‘I won’t. I’d be doing the same as you.’
Joe could practically hear the short sharp nod of approval from Regus, the man who ruled an empire.
‘Right, I’ve got Weasel and his eagle-eyed boy scouts in Melbourne watching the docks waiting for the Feds to show. I’ll tell them you’re on the way and they’ll call you to rendezvous with them. My car could do with a decent run. Keep the fuel receipts for Kelly. Carry that phone with you at all times. Safe driving, Joe. I’ll keep you posted.’
The silence of the car was deafening as Joe drove faster down the interstate. He tried to find some comfort that Regus and Woodcock were working out a plan to rescue those women. But how? When they were back in Sydney across state lines.
Seventy-three
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA
A loud bang came from the roof of the sea container, it was soon followed by scraping metal against metal, then they were flying on a rollercoaster ride in the dark.
Maddison gripped the metal door as the other people muffled their screams.
Then there was a hard jolt, as if dumped onto the ground.
Only then Nancy woke up. ‘Ow!’ She moaned, rubbing her head. ‘Theresa, I need some paracetamol. And I need a new mattress, it’s like a sheet of bloody metal …’ Nancy opened her eyes and peered inside their tomb.
‘Hey—’
‘Give me the rest of them.’ Maddison held out her hand, sparking up the lighter. The people in the back hissing at her to be quiet. She was doing this for them. Or didn’t they understand English? ‘Nancy, I love you, but it’s a disgusting habit you should have kicked a long time ago.’
‘No.’ Nancy hugged her cigarettes like a child.
‘You will. Or I’ll tip out all the scotch.’
The dancing flame of the lighter highlighted Nancy’s fear.
‘Please?’
‘Fine. There goes our chances of sending SOS smoke signals…’ Nancy dumped her cigarette packets into Maddison’s hand.
‘I’ll give them back to you when we’re in an open area.’ Maddison hid the contraband in her pocket, then her godmother passed her a bottle of scotch.
Their situation was hopeless. She may as well drown her sorrows and die of alcohol poisoning to avoid what was ahead of her.
‘What the hell is going on, Maddison? Why are those people cowering in here like spoiled caviar in a can?”
‘Keep your voice down, I don’t want to scare the children.’ Maddison swallowed a mouthful of scotch, settling her back against the metal door.
‘You’d better tell me what’s going on, young lady, because I’m in this with you all the bloody way. They won’t let me walk away free.’ Nancy flung off the lid from her scotch bottle and let it roll off into the darkness. ‘I want the truth and the whole truth, young lady. Not just snippets of a story either.’ She took a mouthful of scotch. ‘I’m waiting. Hmm?’
‘Okay, okay …’ Her godmother was in this situation because of Maddison and deserved the truth and so she told her godmother everything …
Nancy sipped on her scotch. ‘So, darling, these people believe that they are being smuggled into this country as illegal immigrants, but instead they’re being trafficked as slaves?’
‘Yes.’
‘Don’t they realise this?’
Maddison shrugged.
‘Where do they come from?’
‘Most of them are refugees fleeing from war or persecution to seek asylum. They’ve come through South East Asia, into Indonesia, then into Australia by boat. The rich refugees, they catch a plane. These people are the poor ones desperate to flee from their homelands with hope for a better future.’ Her research never prepared her for this, coming face to face with people she’d read about on a page, trapped in a sea-bound bunker.
‘My great-grandmother fled Poland during the Holocaust.’ Nancy frowned, then sighed. ‘I’d forgotten what it was like to be broke and desperate.’
‘I remember as a kid we were short of money and lived in the office at the magazine. And I sure as hell know what it’s like to be desperate, running scared for my life.’ Maddison swigged on her scotch to dull her senses, to try and forget they were trapped inside a slow rocking tomb.
‘Oh, my darling, Sweet Cheeks.’ Nancy put her arm around Maddison and gave her a squeeze. ‘You know, darling, it’s been a long time since I sat on the ground drinking straight out of a bottle. The last time was with your mother. We’d barely scrounged enough from our coins to buy this cheap bottle of plonk.’
‘I’m surprised you and my mother didn’t invest in a winery.’
‘We’d thought about it.’ Nancy squeezed her hand. ‘We just never got around to it. What with your mother busy with the magazine, and me with my many merry men.’ Nancy took another sip. ‘Talking about men, darling, what’s happening with you and Joe?’
‘Really? Do you have to ask that here? Now?’ Maddison shook her head, raising the bottle to her lips.
‘My darling Sweet Cheeks, the man is unreservedly, completely and totally in love with you. Even Leon picked it.’
‘Let’s talk about the whole photo set-up between you and Leon.’
‘Oh, save the lecture, Sweet Cheeks.’ Nancy waved her jewelled hand dismissively. ‘I did that to ensure you weren’t being toyed with.’
‘I told Joe about the trust earlier.’ Maddison confessed with a sigh. She missed him.
‘And?’
‘Joe looked at me like I was some freak. Rang his family, and that was the last time we spoke.’ Except for shouting out her sorrys from the lift. A heavy wave of sadness enveloped her with its bony fingers squeezing her ribs. Would she ever see Joe again?
‘That poor, darling man. You never told Joe anything about yourself, did you?’
Maddison shrugged.
‘Darling, don’t you think you can trust Joe?’
She gazed at their metal vault. ‘Unusual circumstances threw us together. It’s been pretty intense.’
‘But he’s still here. Give the man some credit. After all you’ve been through, being chased by goons with guns, Joe has stuck by you. He’s left his family and his home to help bring you here to Sydney. He’s got amazing courage to shout down Regus while defending you. And no one, darling, I mean no one has the guts to do that except me. Oh, and you, that time before you ran away.’ Nancy nudged Maddison. ‘Why don’t you want to open up to this guy? Is it because of the money?’
Maddison shrugged, picking at the edge of the bottle’s label. ‘Maybe because men usually became more interested in being part of the magazine.’
‘Or they were gold diggers, as I’d warned you over the last couple of men you dated.’
‘I give up. My mother never needed a man in her life, so why should I?’ Did her mother ever feel the sting of heart ache the way Maddison felt for Joe?
‘Do you want my opinion?’
‘Oh please, you have the floor.’ Maddison gave a drunk giggle at her clever wordplay.
‘Darling, I honestly don’t believe Joe is a money-sucking parasite like half of my toy boys. I tested him.’
Maddison sat up frowning. ‘You didn’t. How? When?’
Nancy lifted her chin, wearing a smug smile. ‘Darling, you were there. Remember, photo shoot.’
‘Don’t remind me.’ She crossed her arms in a huff, leaning back against the cold metal door.
‘Darling, Joe’s the first man I’ve ever had to convince to take a cheque. And he asked for it to be written out to his family’s station.’
‘Joe told us to make it out to the station before Leon took the first shot.’
‘Sweet Cheeks, over the many years I have offered a cheque to people, they always thought of themselves. But Joe put his family first, which is a rare and admirable trait in our world, darling.’
‘They’re a tight family.’ Maddison hugged her bent legs to rest her chin on her knees. She missed Glenda, with her baking sessions and her warm smile in the mornings. Greg’s playful banter with her over his clothes, Earl with his dry quick quip of the day as part of his daily wisdoms. And Joe … She missed everything about Joe.
‘Hey, Nancy?’
‘Hmm.’
‘How come my mother never dated anyone?’
‘Oh, your mother had men on the side.’ Nancy grinned wryly.
‘How? My mother was always working on the magazine.’
‘In the beginning, Janice indulged. I guess the more popular the magazine got, the more it …’
‘Consumed her.’ It became her mother’s most important possession. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t see it. You were there.’ Maddison took an angry swig of scotch, relishing the heat of the burn in her chest.
‘I tried to drag her out of that office, but Janice wouldn’t leave.’
‘Why did she end up like that?’
Nancy said nothing. Tight-lipped, as always.
‘Come on, Nancy, look at where we are. No more secrets.’ She frowned at herself. Is this what Joe felt like, always being kept in the dark? She covered her mouth as the burden of guilt made her stomach twist into knots. Poor Joe.
‘You deserve to know,’ said Nancy, scratching around for another cigarette. ‘I’ll tell you everything for a smoke.’
‘Not until we get to open space.’
‘But this is a conversation that demands I smoke—’
‘It’ll distract you. How come my mother never remarried or dated other men? She was a beautiful woman. Don’t tell me work got in the way.’
‘Oh, Janice and Regus shared that same trait. But back when I met your mother, we were both boy crazy.’
‘What happened?’
‘At university, Janice became ashamed of who she was and where she’d come from. I blame your father for that.’
‘You knew my father?’
Nancy nodded. ‘Tim was studying to become an aeronautical engineer when he was dating your mother.’
‘It wasn’t a one-night stand?’
‘Darling, they loved each other.’
‘Did he dump her when he found out she was pregnant with me?’
‘No. Not at all. Tim’s family had discovered Janice was on a hardship scholarship. He’s from old-family money and they convinced Tim to call it off, shipped him interstate, and broke your mother’s heart.’ Nancy sighed heavily. ‘After that, your mother wouldn’t let another man touch her, only to discover she was pregnant.’
‘At eighteen. I know the story.’
‘But you never knew that Janice was originally going to give you up for adoption.’
‘Really?’
‘But I saw Janice’s expression change when she took one look at you. She made me snatch you back from the nurse before they took you away and she held you in her arms. You looked so innocent.’ Nancy tenderly stroked the tip of Maddison’s nose. ‘From that moment on, Janice was going places. You could see it, and I was always going to tag along for the ride. Didn’t she take us on some extraordinary adventures, from a life of squalor to the best that money could buy?’ She held her bottle in the air in a salute.
‘Did my father ever learn about me?’
Nancy looked at her coat, picking at some unseen lint. ‘Oh, my darling Sweet Cheeks, I—’
Maddison putting her hand over her godmother’s. ‘Don’t sweet talk your way out of this. What did my mother have to hide?’
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
‘Out with it.’
‘Tim dropped out of university and disgraced his family by becoming a heroin addict. I liked to think it was because he was miserable without your mother. Sadly, he’d overdosed before your mother found him.’
‘How come she never told me?’
‘Janice never got over your father. It disappointed her that Tim never had the guts to stand up and fight for what he wanted. And that’s why your mother worked so hard. She reinvented herself to bury her past so deep that no one would ever know where she’d come from or use it to hurt her again. Instead of addressing her past, Janice used that pain to drive herself forwards. Remember your trip to visit your grandmother?’
‘Pft. The woman who refused to acknowledge my existence.’ The trip to Adelaide seeing the house her mother had grown up, choked with weeds, and walls full of graffiti. ‘It’d been an eye opener, visiting my mother’s past. We got close then … until we came back to the office.’ Maddison took an angry swig of her scotch.
‘After that trip, darling, your mother returned with a plan. She renegotiated her terms with Regus and was planning to slow down once she’d achieved controlling shares of the magazine, so you two would run it together.’ Nancy patted Maddison’s knee. ‘That’s why Janice had you so involved from the beginning.’
‘And we both know how that ended, with my mother being too busy with the magazine for anyone.’ A magazine Maddison resented.
‘That’s why you weren’t allowed to work for the magazine and got sent to work the crappy summer internships.’
‘Pardon me?’
‘When Janice discovered she was sick, your mother and Regus didn’t want you to end up like them. All Janice wanted was to see you happy.’ Nancy tapped on Maddison’s heart.
A heart she let no one in for fear of getting hurt. Did it matter now?
‘Janice honestly thought she’d be there with you, to retire at fifty and live to a hundred. But at least she was there to help you blow out the candles of your sweet sixteenth.’ Nancy looked at her fingers covered in rings, stroking the fur of her coat, wriggling her designer label shoes.
Across from them, people sat in rags.
‘It’s amazing don’t you think, darling, that when you’re staring death in the face you realise all those materialistic possessions mean squat. It’s the memories you make living a life that is truly too short to waste.’
Seventy-two
NEW SOUTH WALES—VICTORIA BORDER
Joe’s hands tightly gripped the BMW’s steering wheel, as he chased the white line down the night-time freeway. A ring blasted through the speakers as the mobile phone, resting in the console, lit up like an in-house flare.
It was the mobile phone Kelly had given him.
‘Hello,’ Joe spoke to the hands-free microphone, bracing himself. He’d taken a car that didn’t belong to him.
‘Where the hell are you two?’ Regus’s voice bellowed through the car’s speakers, with other people talking in the background. ‘You were meant to be tucked up in the safe house hours ago—’
‘Stop, Regus!’ And he gave it to the man hard, fast, and straight to the point just the way Regus liked it. ‘They’ve kidnapped Nancy. Maddison went to save her. But now both women are being held hostage on a ship heading for Melbourne.’
‘How did Nancy get kidnapped? In this building? While we’ve had the feds here all bloody day!’ The boardroom’s background noise was silenced.
‘No idea. Maddison said they may have had her phones tapped and who knows how big their network is? I know they had that Melbourne detective call Nancy looking for Maddison. They could’ve been watching Nancy this entire time, and with us showing up this morning in the limo—’
‘You would’ve stood out like a side of barbecued ribs at a vegan sit-down.’
‘It doesn’t matter how, all that matters is that they’ve now got Nancy and Maddison.’
‘Right, I’ve got you on speaker with Woodcock beside me. Fill us in on everything.’
‘All I know is this …’ Joe explained the events calmly, but inside his heart was heavy with his guts knotted with worry.
‘Joe, Woodcock here. Regus’s security guy is patching us through to the building’s surveillance cameras. Can you tell us where Maddison was while you were in her office talking to your folks?’
‘Maddison went to see Nancy, who was supposed to be waiting to take us out for dinner.’ Joe wished he’d never let Maddison out of his sight.
‘What the—’ Regus voice dropped a notch. ‘The security tapes show you speeding through my basement.’
‘I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. I’m trying to help Maddison.’ Joe was meant to be keeping Maddison safe but was failing miserably. ‘I found Nancy’s white car parked at the docks,’ Joe said over the microphone, as he steered down the freeway. ‘It was the wharfies who told me that Maddison was the last person seen getting onto the cargo ship. Check the security footage they have down at the docks to confirm it, because I never saw her get on. But those men told me Maddison was running full pelt to not miss that boat.’
‘What is the vessel called?’ Woodcock asked.
‘Where the hell is it headed?’ Regus demanded.
‘It’s called the Zinko and its heading for Melbourne with a deck full of sea containers,’ said Joe.
It was as if everyone in the boardroom murmured their surprise in the background.
The first to react was Regus. ‘Right, what did Maddison take with her? And someone find me that list of ships.’
‘Maddison took her bag with her notes and the memory stick from the laptop that has copies of this whole thing.’
In the background, paper shuffled as Regus barked out orders, snapping his fingers. ‘Right, we have a list of Cottillard’s boats and their shipping itinerary.’
‘Is the Zinko on that list?’
‘Yep. Booked to dock in Melbourne tomorrow. I bet my next lot of dividends that ship has got illegal immigrants onboard and they’re taking Maddison to see this Cottillard.’
‘Yeah.’ Joe had already guessed that. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, worried about what that animal would do to Maddison.
‘Where are you now, Joe?’
‘I’m halfway to Melbourne. I’ll pay you back in fuel and costs.’
‘If I told you to come back, would you?’
‘No. I’m not stopping. Don’t ask me to turn around, Regus, because I won’t!’
‘I won’t. I’d be doing the same as you.’
Joe could practically hear the short sharp nod of approval from Regus, the man who ruled an empire.
‘Right, I’ve got Weasel and his eagle-eyed boy scouts in Melbourne watching the docks waiting for the Feds to show. I’ll tell them you’re on the way and they’ll call you to rendezvous with them. My car could do with a decent run. Keep the fuel receipts for Kelly. Carry that phone with you at all times. Safe driving, Joe. I’ll keep you posted.’
The silence of the car was deafening as Joe drove faster down the interstate. He tried to find some comfort that Regus and Woodcock were working out a plan to rescue those women. But how? When they were back in Sydney across state lines.
Seventy-three
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA
A loud bang came from the roof of the sea container, it was soon followed by scraping metal against metal, then they were flying on a rollercoaster ride in the dark.
Maddison gripped the metal door as the other people muffled their screams.
Then there was a hard jolt, as if dumped onto the ground.
Only then Nancy woke up. ‘Ow!’ She moaned, rubbing her head. ‘Theresa, I need some paracetamol. And I need a new mattress, it’s like a sheet of bloody metal …’ Nancy opened her eyes and peered inside their tomb.
